Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1881 — The Correct Version of an Old [ARTICLE]

The Correct Version of an Old

Story. Scribner’s Magazine. Among Copley’s companions or his voyage to England was Brook Watson, afterward Lord Mayor, a man in the prime of life, whose lost leg was replaced by a wooden one. Passengers in those days were few and voyages long, and the timeVas beguiled by*many a tale of truth and fiction; few among the latter could possess more mriliing interest than the sfccount this gentleman gave ofthe lossaf • leg by the bite of, a# shark, frhile he wax baffling in the' barborot Havana.. Agaiu and agaiu Copley heard the scene described and the agony of' dread recounted, with all the vividness of experience; the awful pause; the swift return of the monster; the almost hopeless deliverance -of the victim at the last moment, till evefj*

circumstance of the case was stamped on the artist’B imagination with the | fidelity of truth. Sketchs were taken ] with a view to represent the frightful: occurrence on a canvas. The picture, ■represented in the engraving'uu pUfce! 765 was given by Lord Lyndhurst to] a near relation in Bostotr, biif is now] the property of the late M rv; Charles! Appleton’s family. The Monster, having te&en off one leg, is ted as returning for another attack jnstasthe youth is drawn into the Spate The coloring of the picture is 'extremelysoft and rich—the Moro east’l the water,and tne expession of the tern I fled boatmen are very fine. There is ®eat animation in the whole group! d the picture always rivets the atten tion of the spectator,even the humblest. AJboosemaid, engaged in her employs ment in the room where it hung, said:‘“l Cfn not take my eyes off that picture.” It was finished in 1778, and engrayedjby Valeo tine Green in mezzotin to. A Watson delighted to relate the aneo elaksconnected With this picture—ho r anecdote, by the way, whickbas gone Into currency with Being «t a County inn,, in a remote corner of England, and the' servant coming to take.off his hooWWatsoMrarued Lira thal4f he palle<£jtoo haft UK wftld jteingtbe leg with it. the ia*xforesslble horror of fbe man ke fajfnd the leg as well as the bodfin hre- hand. Recovering in a measure from the shock, and finding that the leg could repKcSf; ffe&tged to' knowhow the gentleman had lest it** Utetson .promised te tell ‘him under <Mtion -that he would not atteaoocond question. Assenting to the condition, pofr 800 tfa*t it was “bit off,’ 1 ! aT which', scratching his head, he exclaimed: “How I wish I couldj aak one more!" * %